Make your Boat Go Faster
Boating enthusiasts love maximizing the power in their boats. There’s nothing like the feeling of pushing that throttle all the way forward and letting your vessel rip through the water. And even if you don’t have a power or speedboat, there are still a number of ways you can make your boat faster. Optimizing the amount of power a boat receives is one of the duties of a marine technician. By reading below, you can learn a few ways in which today’s marine technicians work to make boats reach higher top speeds.
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Blueprinting for Speed
Blueprinting is the process of returning the hull of your boat to the manufacturer’s original shape and design. Over time, your hull can warp and develop a hook or rocker in its shape that limits your top speed. Custom blueprints work to eliminate these imperfections and give your hull a new, slick finish that optimizes the way your boat can through the water. Blueprinting can add 5 to 10 mph to your top speed and last for roughly two years.
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Supercharger Systems
A supercharger significantly increases how fast a boat can travel. While installing one may void any warranties you have, a supercharger compresses the fuel and air combination that enters your boat’s cylinders. With this optimized combination, your pistons can produce more power delivered to your engine, thus increasing your speed. Adding a supercharger is a serious upgrade to your boat and may require upgrades to your propeller and gear ratio as well.
Boat Jack Plate
A jack plate is designed to reduce the amount of drag your boat experiences in the water. The lower your outboard motor is in the water, the more drag is produced, which slows down your boat significantly. What a jack plate does is use plates to raise the outboard motor’s lower unit, so there’s less of it hanging in the water, effectively reducing your drag and improving your boat’s overall efficiency. Jack plates can improve your speed up to 10 mph, and the highest-quality plates are built with corrosion-resistant aluminum, so they’re built to last.
Propeller Upgrade
One of the easiest ways to increase the top speed of your boat is to upgrade your propeller. Switching from an aluminum propeller to a stainless steel model, you’ll notice a slight gain of about 3 mph. The key to maximizing the speed that your propeller generates is to opt for the strongest material. The stronger your boat’s propeller is, the less it will flex and bend. However, you do want a healthy medium of blades that are strong and thin, since thin blades will cut through the water more efficiently.
Maximizing the top speed in your boat will certainly give boating enthusiasts and aspiring marine technicians an exhilarating time and a sense of accomplishment after the upgrade is complete.
For more information on boosting the power of your boat, you can download our free ebook Top 5 Ways to Boost Outboard Engine Performance.
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